Tech
NASA fails to stop asteroid which could hit earth in 2135
A NASA spacecraft designed to save Earth from asteroids is ‘inadequate’ and will not be able to steer a gigantic space rock onto a course which guarantees it doesn’t hit Earth in 2135.
That’s the warning from members of a US ‘national planetary defence team’ who have just published a chilling study which says it may be impossible to redirect a huge space rock called Bennu.
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NASA is already working on a craft called HAMMER (Hypervelocity Asteroid Mitigation Mission for Emergency Response vehicle) that’s designed to blow up asteroids with nuclear bombs or steer the asteroid on a trajectory which means it won’t smash into Earth.
The second option is preferred because it gives more control over the path of the asteroid and doesn’t risk showering our planet with radioactive rock fragments.
But just one of the tiny HAMMER crafts will probably be unable to deflect Bennu, scientists said, meaning the dangerous nuclear option could be our only hope.
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